The men's basketball tournament at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, began on 10 August and ended on 24 August, when the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

defeated

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

118–107 for the gold medal. All games were held at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium. The

, nicknamed the " Redeem Team", defeated

in the gold medal game, finishing the tournament undefeated and winning the gold medal for the first time since

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, while

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, the defending Olympic champions who lost to the U.S. in the semifinals, won the bronze medal.

Qualification

Format

* Twelve teams are split into 2 preliminary round groups of 6 teams each. The top 4 teams from each group qualify for the knockout stage. * Fifth-placed teams from each group are ranked 9th–10th by basis of their records. * Sixth-placed teams from each group are ranked 11th–12th by basis of their records. * In the quarterfinals, the matchups are as follows: A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs. B1. **The eliminated teams at the quarterfinals are ranked 5th–8th by basis of their preliminary round records * The winning teams from the quarterfinals meet in the semifinals as follows: A1/B4 vs. A3/B2 and A2/B3 vs. A4/B1. * The winning teams from the semifinals play for the gold medal. The losing teams play for the bronze. Ties are broken via the following the criteria, with the first option used first, all the way down to the last option: # Head to head results #

Goal average A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

(not the goal difference) between the tied teams # Goal average of the tied teams for all teams in its group All times are local

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(UTC+8).

Squads

Preliminary round

All times are

China Standard Time The time in China follows a single standard UTC offset, time offset of UTC+08:00, where Beijing is located, even though the country spans five geographical time zones. It is the largest sovereign nation in the world that officially observes only ...

(

UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. It is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a possible candidate for ASEAN Common Time, mainly due to China's large population, with an estimated population ...

)

Group A

----

Group B

----

Knockout round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

The Americans got off to a slow start with the Spaniards hitting seven of their first nine shots; if not for a 10–0 run by

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

and

Dwyane Wade Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. ( or , born January 17, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player who is currently the co-owner of the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association. He is also currently the host of the American a ...

, the Americans would have trailed in the first quarter. With the USA leading by 14, Spain chipped away at the lead during the second quarter to cut the deficit to eight points. The teams traded baskets in the third quarter, with Spain cutting the deficit further to seven. A

three-point field goal A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or triple) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two ...

by Rudy Fernández cut the lead into two, the smallest deficit with 8:13 left in the fourth.

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, spent his entire 20-year career with t ...

and Wade extended the lead with three-pointers to 103–92 but Spain had a final push, capped with another three-pointer from Carlos Jiménez to reduce the lead to 108–104. In the final two minutes a three-pointer by Dwyane Wade and a Kobe Bryant field goal extended the lead back to 9. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball games ever played.

Awards

Statistical leaders

Top ten in points, rebounds and assists, and top 5 in steals and blocks.

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

Game highs

Final standings

Rankings are determined by: *1st–4th **Results of gold and bronze medal games. *5th–8th: **Win–loss record in the preliminary round group **Standings in the preliminary round group (i.e. Group A's #3 is ranked higher than Group B's #4.) **Goal average in the preliminary round group *9th–10th and 11th–12th: **5th placers in the preliminary round groups are classified 9th–10th; 6th placers classified *11th–12th **Win–loss record in the preliminary round group **Goal average in the preliminary round group

References

External links

Men's tournament official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Men's tournament Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...